PORTLAND, Tenn. (WTVF) — Bargain hunters and road trippers, this one's for you. A Tennessee tradition is back for another year.
Friday, something was happening all along Highway 52. We decided to ask a local.
"Well, I'm glad you asked," Wyley McCloud, 8, said while his family set up places to shop around him. "There's yard sales everywhere, and people are making a lot of money off of it. There's a bunch of shirts and shoes and toys over there."
Wyley's in Portland raising a little money to repair a bike.
"Here's your lemonade!" he said, handing someone a cup. "Or your orange juice. I don't know which."
Well, he's selling it whatever it is.
Wyley's taking part in something happening the entire length of Highway 52.
"It's about, like, 40 or 10 miles or somethin'," Wyley said.
Actually, it's even longer than that.
"Well, yeah! Cause it's a lot of land!" Wyley said.
Highway 52 starts in downtown Orlinda and then stretches for more than 95 miles. People are selling things all along the way as part of a tradition; the Highway 52 Yard Sale.
Katie Creasy's stop is also in Portland.
"My sister-in-law painted this picture," Katie said, holding up a painting. "I think she was going for the Bob Ross. She nailed it!"
Katie has chicken decor, chicken salt and pepper shakes, chicken portraits. Katie, there's a trend here.
"Just gettin' to move more stuff out the house and buy more junk," she laughed.
At another stop, there were Dustbusters, workout cassettes, and VHS cabinets.
"I had to test some of the oranges out," Wyley said, pouring another cup for a customer. "You gotta know if they're bad or not!"
So, what is it that gets people traveling the yard sale? The eclectic nature of what you find is a huge part of it. Then there's also just the sort of people you meet. If you can help Wyley pay to fix his bike, that's a pretty good reason too.
The Highway 52 Yard Sale runs through Sunday.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
